Silhouette
by ArcanineErised34
Summary: Strange things are happening inside and outside of Hogwarts. How can one small group of students help save the ministry? Read on to find out :)


Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series. The only things that are mine are the characters!

Chapter One: Plant Life

I'm cold. Not just everyday cold but the kind of cold that seeps through your skin into your very core and leaves you breathless. I can see my breath come out in white puffs. I shiver violently and my teeth chatter but I don't move for fear of making noise. My stomach feels as if it could fall out any moment and my heart is beating madly in my chest.

I'm in a long and dark hallway. The intricate carpet is covered in a blanket of dust as if no one has set foot on it in years. Faded wallpaper covers the walls, peeling in some places. I can see doors leading off of the hall, some hanging off their hinges with cracks or holes in them. The only light source comes from a half open door at the end of the hallway.

I take a steadying breath before slowly picking my foot up and placing it ahead of me. A cloud of dust rises from the carpet, swirling around my leg and up to my waist. I move my other foot ahead just as slowly, disturbing another patch of dust. I almost take another step but an unpleasent sensation stops me.

With a sudden wave of dread, I feel the hair on my arms and neck rise and goose bumps potrude from my arms. Someone is behind me. I feel as if I'm paralyzed by fear. I want to curl in a ball and cry but I don't.

I straighten my back and push back my shoulders, summoning the little courage I have. I turn around quickly with my fists balled up at my sides and my fingernails digging deep into my skin. Dust rises around me like a tornado, blocking my vision for a few moments before falling back down to the carpet.

I squint down the long hallway, expecting it to be lighter. It's so dark that I can't make out the far end, I can only see two more doors down that way. I feel someone is just out of my sight, standing in the dark. I don't hear breathing or see movement but I know they're there.

"Hello?" I try to call but it comes out as a shaky whisper.

With a sounds like a banshee a figure comes into veiw, charging me with incredible speed. I see the face for one moment and I scream too before taking off down the hall. I run faster than I ever have, glancing into the rooms as I pass them.

In one I see my childhood bedroom. Paint is peeling off the walls and some of the floorboards are missing. The large dollhouse is dusty and broken. Broken toys lay scattered on the floor. My four poster bed is bare and the dark space beneath it looks like it isn't empty. I continue on.

The next room I see is a hospital room, all too familiar. The bed is empty but there is evidence of an inhabitant all over. A stack of dusty clothes sits on the bench next to the bed and a dirty glass, long empty of water sits on the end table. The window is cracked and dirty and broken glass litters the floor. It's been empty for some time. On the end table is a large card with the words, GET BETTER SOON, TODD, scrawled across it in child's writing. I don't stop.

I'm nearing the door at the end of the hallway, dust rising up behind me in a large, billowing cloud. A warm smell hits my nose suddenly, unpleasently familiar. It smells like rotting meat and I cringe. The smell becomes stronger as I near the door but I don't slow down, my attacker on my heels.

I slip in the door and slam it behind me. I fall to the ground and bury my face in my knees. The gruesome face is burned onto the back of my eyelids; The skin missing in some places and about to fall off in other places, the two black pits where eyes should be, the black and brown rectangles that were once teeth.

I slowly raise my head after a few minutes only to find myself in another, all to0 familiar, room. It's my mom and dad's bedroom. Their large bed is missing a leg and the matress has a large, dark stain on it. It makes me sick too look at. The ceiling is blasted away reveiling a starry sky and a full moon.

The smell of decay is very strong and it takes all I have not to throw up. I look around the room for any sign of a dead body.

I feel a wave of fear pass through my entire body as I see a figure standing in the corner. I can see that it's a woman. She's tall and sickly thin with long hair that swirls around her as if she is under water. Her face is covered by her flowing hair but I imagine it looking exactly like the one engraved in my mind.

"Who are you?" I whisper, my voice weak from fear.

She raises a stiff arm and points at the closet. I see that some of the skin on her arm is missing, reveiling white bone and rotting brown tissue. I try not to look at the gore, instead looking towards the closet. I look from the woman, to the closet and back again. She manages to nod, her stiff neck barely moving. I move towards the closet as the woman drops her arm.

The short walk seems to last a life time. Part of me wants to run and cower from the closet, dreading what's inside. Another, larger part of me wants to open the door and see what's in it. See what I'm afraid of.

I finally stop at the closet doors. I don't move or make a sound. I simply stare at the wooden surface of the door, breathing heavily. My heart is beating madly and I feel like it might explode.

The woman is suddenly beside me. She puts a hand on my shoulder and I look at it out of the corner of my eye. It's completely skinless, just white bones and brownish veins. Her hand feels cold and heavy. I don't shrug it off but I stiffen. I lift my hand slowly and put it on the handle. I pull it open in one swift move.

Shoved into the bottom of the closet is a woman I know and love. Her dark hair is twisted and tangled around her thin face. The twisted limbs don't look like they should belong to her as they are twisted and bent at unnatural angles. Her eyes are wide and blank, accusing but blind. She looks terrified, her mouth agape and her eyebrows are knitted together.

I kneel down next to the woman. My hands hover over her, wanting to grab onto her hand but at the same time not wanting to touch her. I wimper quietly and bury my face in my hands.

The woman is my mother.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I feel hands try and pull my hands from my face but I use all my strength to keep them against my face. I don't want to see, I don't want to feel. I'm breathing heavily and shaking violently.

"Medley? Medley, it's me, Todd! Medley, look at me!"

I freeze. Where am I?

"Medley?"

I let my hands be guided away from my face. I'm on a plane. To my left sits my brother, Todd, and on my right is my sister, Belle. A flight attendant is standing in the aisle, pearing down at me with a concerned frown.

I rub my eyes for longer than I should, trying to hide my tears. Taking my time sitting up, I let my mind catch up to what's going on. WE'RE ON OUR WAY TO LONDON, I tell myself, WE'RE MEETING AUNT ASTORIA.

"Are you all right, honey?" The flight attendant asks. She has fake blond hair and wears a lot of make-up. Her shirt is so low that a sliver of her scarlet bra peeks out. She looks at me with her dull gray eyes and I can tell she isn't genuinely concerned. I nod at her and look away.

"How long was I out?" I ask Todd as the attendant teeters away on her six-inch heels.

"About an hour," Todd replies as he checks his watch.

His dirty blond hair is a little bit greasy and he has large purple bags under his cerulean eyes. The hoodie he wears is wrinkly and he's wearing some old sweatpants. A thin scar rises from beneath his hoodie up to his strong jaw. He looks a lot like my dad. I often look for similarities between the two even though I always end up feeling sad.

"Are you okay?" Belle asks me, touching my arm gently.

Her shoulder length hair is matted on the back of her head and I know that'll take me forever to brush out tonight. She is wearing a dirty t-shirt with a cardigan that's three sizes to big for her. Her large round eyes look at me imploringly and I smile reasuringly at he.

"Yeah," I tell her, "Just an ordinary nightmare"

I reach into my carry-on and pull out a book. I don't bother to look at the title, instead just opening to a random page and pretending to read.

NOTHING IS ORDINARY ANYMORE, I think to myself sadly.

I have never had an ordinary life. I've known since I was young that I'm different. My families different. All of us are magic. Well, all of us but my dad.

For someone like me, being raised in a small town doesn't offer many opportunities for education. It took my mom forever to find a school that taught magic in Alberta, Canada. But after a lot of time and effort my mom found Wildrose. The school, nestled deep within the rocky mountains was our best bet to get ourselves a magical education.

I started there when I was eleven years old. I remember how excited I was and how quickly I opened up and made friends. My love for charms and transfiguration was discovered that year as well as how inept I am at herbology. My best days were spent at Wildrose.

All was well up until a month ago.

Belle and I were out seeing a movie that night, leaving my mom, dad, and Todd at home. I remember being annoyed that my dad didn't show up to pick us up afterwards. After about an hour and a half of waiting, Belle and I decided to walk home. It was dark and cold out that night, as if the happiness in the world was shut off.

As we approached our house I remember seeing the flashing red and blue lights of the muggle police cars and the ambulances. I grabbed Belle's hand and ran to our house, my eyes searching for one of my family members.

We found Todd almost instantly, laying on a stretcher with bloody bandages on his chest and neck. It was weird riding in the ambulance, the paramedic worked in silence to try and stop Todd from bleeding.

My dad or a neighbour must have called the cops before a witch or wizard got there. That's why we were taken to a muggle hospital. We spent the night in that hospital, waiting for Todd to get stitched up. I didn't sleep much, all I could think about were my parents.

I don;t really remember the doctor telling us that our parents died. It's just sort of a blur to me. I remember squeezing Todd's hand tightly and cuddling Belle close to me as he delivered the news. I managed to not cry right then, instead listening to all that the doctor had to say.

"It's odd," He had said,"I've never seen anything like it. Not a mark on either of them and no sign of forced entry. It's as if nothing happened to them at all."

Of course we know what happened but the muggles still don't. The story made headlines all around our area. After all, people don't usually drop dead for no reason. The only sign of an attack were the cuts covering Todd's upper body; long, deep gashes covering his torso. He's all scarred up still but most of his scars are hidden by his clothes. He never told me what happened that night but I can feel in the holes.

My parents were murdered. I don't know why and I don't know who did it. I fume with aner when I imagine the people who did this to us. I hope that whoever they are, karma has something awful instore for them.

"We are now starting our initial descent into London," A sudden voice booms from above. I jump, dropping the book on the floor.

I see the ground approach through the window and take a deep breath. This is it.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! I've been working on this story for a while now and I have a bunch of it written all ready but I'm really unhappy with it. That's why this is kind of like a rewrite but not really. I'm going with the basic story line of my other story but I'm adding and taking out a whole bunch of characters/places/events. So it's kind of like I'm starting from scratch. I'm not entirely happy with this chapter but I've rewritten it like, six times by now and I'm honestly so sick of looking at it at this point. That sounds awful doesn't it? This chapter is titled plant life because the first two line of the song Plant Life by Owl City inspired the haunted hallway scene (Well an earlier version of it, anyway.) It's a pretty awesome song so if you want you could check it out!  
Please leave a reveiw to tell me how you like it! Do you like my main character? Am I being descriptive enough? Next chapter we introduce at least four more new characters! ~Holly


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